Art of curing meat



UNETEE TATEE PATENT @FFEQE.

FREDERICK W. KURK, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORTO WILSON & COMPANY. OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ART or CURING MEATII No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK \V. Kl mt, a citizen of the United States, residing'at 6100 Greenwood avenue, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Art of Curing Meat, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to the art of curing or pickling meats, and will be fully understood from the descriptionv thereof including meats which are subsequently smoked, it is customary to employ a curing or pickling compound containing salt and a nitrate, such as saltpeter, with or without added substances, such as sugar and spices. As hitherto carried out, the results of curing meat have been variable, irregular and uncontrollable. Thus if a number of substantially'identical pieces of meat, for-example, hams are placed in separate vats containing identical fresh curing or pickling solutions, it will be foundat the end of the cure that the liquors in the several vats differ markedly from each other, as shown by their odor, taste and bacterial flora, and the meats from the several vats differ froineach other in shade and uniformity of-color, flavor, etc. This variation in results is likewise true in dry salt cures and in cures, such as of sausage, in which the curing compounds are incorporated or ground in'with the meat to be cured.

I have now discovered that the cure of the meat may be made standard or substantially uniform in all or any cures by producing in each cure a dominant growth or culture of a single individual or type of bacterium. This bacterium I have found to be present in varying degrees of virility in all successful cures, its effective action being hindered to a greater or less extent or completely destroyed and uniformity of its action being prevented by the presence and activity of other bacteria, of which I have found upward of i I growth of this bacteria is produced. I;

pe c of Letters Patent- Iatented Mav 3 Application filed January 31, 1921. Serial No. 441,503. I v

cures may be made by ino'culatin each pickle or cure with a virile culturedselected bacterium, whereby a donrnr'" it these circumstances the growth and'virility of other bacterial flora-normally present in der cures or pickles is entirely prevented or so greatly reduced that they are unable to sub 'stantially affect the character or uniformity of the cure. Itis likewise found that, by producing a-"dominant culture or growth of the selected bacteria in the curing meat an improved color and flavor of the cured meat results. The employment of the selected bacteria hence results in both an improvement in each individual pickle or cure as well as substantial uniformity in all pickling or cures. v

The pickles or cures herein referred to may be either those in which the meat is immersed orsoaked' in a solution of the ingredients of the curing compound, those in which the curing compound is applied as a surface coating on the meat.- for example,

a dry salt cure, or those in which these inany of the methods which is applied in the cure in suitable .pro-

portions. To illustrate the practice of my invention, the following examples are given. I

L Example N0.1.In making sausage the components of the cure are mixed directly with the meat, preferably during grinding. The curing constituent-s may be, for example, 5'lbs. salt, 2 oz. saltpeter and 3 to 10 oz. sugar to 150 pounds of meat. At the same time a virile culture of thejselected bacteria is introduced, a three day culture in 250 cc. bouillon, transferred to a sterile normal salt solution, being added for each 150 pounds of meat. The meat, pickle constituents and inoculating culture are thoroughly intermixed, together with any desired flavoring substances. the mixture is stuffed into "putrefactive "bacteria. v 1 O casings, is stored and permitted to cure.

The inoculation with the virile culture of i the selected bacteria produces a dominant growth thereof, which substantially prevents such growth of other bacteriaas will cause interference with the flavor, taste or uniformity of thecure. It likewise prevents or greatly ret-ards the growth and action of.

Example N. 2. A pickle solution is made by dissolving inwater 16 to of salt,

0. 2 to 0.6% saltpeter and 1 to 4%sugar.

Other flavoring ingredients, condiments or spices. may be added, if desired. The solu- "tion is ,placed in vats, or tierces, preferably thoroughly cleaned, and the 11163.1),1601 ex- -:;;the bacteria of-athree. day growth of the bacteria in 250 cc. bouillon foreach vat consize of the hams being cured. I

It cure, in WhlCh ample hams, to be cured solution. 'Either before or immediately after the introduction of the *meatthe pickle "or solutior'i is inoculated by adding thereto a normal saltsolution containing a virile culture of the selected'bacteria, for example,-

- Inv cures such as the'dry sa the curing substances (salt and saltpeter) are made into a. pasty mass with water'and applied'directly to the meats to becured, the inoculating growth of bacteria may be added to the water usedin making the'afpre- I said paste.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the specific details of procedure for carrying it into ef-' fect, it is not intended that-these details shall be regarded as limitations upon. the scope of the invention, except in so far as included in the accompanying claims.

7 I claim:

1. A bacterialculture containing only the vnon-putrefactive, non-pathogenic, nitrateredu'cing micrococcus and capable of producing in a meat cure containing nitrates a dominant growth of said bacteria for-curing the meat.

v 2.,The mproved process of curing' meats I in the presence of nltrates WlllCl]. comprises producing in the curea dominant-growth of the. non; putrefactive, non P pathogenic,

nitrate-reducing micrococcus.

' 3. The improved process ofcuring meats in the presence of nitrates which comprises inoculating the fresh cure with a virile culture of the, non-putrefactive, non-pathogenic, nitrate-reducing microeocjcus;

t 4. The process of curing meat which comprises immersing the meat .in a pickle solution containing nitrates and producing" a dominant-growth in the pickle of the nonputrefactive, non-pathogenic, nitrate-'reducing micrococcus. A y c 5. The process of curing meat which comprisesimmersing the meat in a pickling solution comprisin'gsalt and saltpeter and inoculatingthe fresh solution with a virile culture of the non-putrefactive, non-patho genie, nitrate-reducing micrococ'cus, whereby a dominant growth of said micrococcus is produced in the li aid;

a 1 DERICK KURK. 

